e r1s1n

Fundamentalism by ultra nationalists is seeping through the core of India today, with damaging effects

t:..

1

tBY TIM BLIGHT

Acolleague once mid me that he loved travelling in Asia for all its hilari o u s contradictions

Such as the metro trains i n Tok yo, w here talking on mobile p ho ne s is banned to avoid disrurbing otber people. Arriving at each statio n, however, passengers are earbashed by an organ player, announcing the name of the stop along with a ditty o n the keyboard at full volume. Absurd? Absolutely! Living in India, l see similar contradictions; ho,vever the p aradoxes he re are ofte n muc.h more profound and unsettling. Each evening now a huge bank of clouds builds over Chennai b elying the heat of the da)7, an o minous warni ng () f the app roaching monsoon. A not dissimilar sensation may also occur to anyone who has m onitored th e media in r ec em months and yea rs.

The question of national ide nti ty has been a bot to pic in Asian cow1u-ies for many years, and India is no exceptio n. Si nce as long as people can remember Indians have struggled, an d for the most pare, balanced who th ey are: nationality, language, religion, job - but not necessaril y in chat o rde r. Occasion ally che balance would be thrown a nd would explode imo violence. H oweve r in che late-2000s man y held t heir breath chat maybe econo mic progress would outstrip d1e days of commun al u nrest. Today, those people find t hemselves in b etween ultranationalists, religious fund am e n ralisrs and hard lin e secularists, all of w hom have a vision of what India should be. This debate is an old o n e, b u t is rising in intensity and scope thanks to social and trad itional media sour ces. It is p articular ly fraught in India, where morality and policies has been confused by years of forei!,>n invasion and rule.

The 2009 overrurning of Sectio n 377 of the Indian Penal Code is a case in poim. The law which fam ously crinlioalized seio.1al activity 'against d1e order of nature' was in troduced during British m le Thar co nsidered, opposition to overturning the law came from an unlikely source - ultranationaliscs. Of course religious figures also

INDIAN LINK campaigned against the move, but for differe n t reasons to chose given by the nationalists. Ir served to highlight the contradictions in t he id eology of the far right - that some of che (allegedl y) proudest Indians would seek to uphold a relic of the British era. Is India not the home of the Kamasutra?

Isn't the world's finest exan1ple of rh eological erotic ar r in Khajuraho?

The point here is n ot t ha t we m u se all engage in the acts sculpted our of those stone walls. We don 't even have to condone themblush i f you wiUJ The point is that India has an indigenous traclition of sex independent of Britain and it s scan dal- ridden 'passions of the flesh' para noia.

The contradiction s in modern lnclia are ri fe. Con servative Muslims receive Ltninvited promotional text messages advertising: "The secrets of love - just Rs. 5, push yes to know more!" Young girls are rut-mered by old men fo r the clothes they wear enroute ro a nightclub. D o n 't be fooled, this is not a str uggle between tradition and modernity - it 's a battle between two different vis ions for the nation. And alth ough d1is isn't unique to India, w hat is most concerning is the often vitrioli c form it is taking. In 2010, journalist Sagarika lf Hinduism i s a religion of peace, it is difficult to comprehend how it can be reconciled with so m e of the acerbic rhetoric emerging nowadays Equally, the marriage of rabid ultranationalis rn and mo d ern India is troublesome, given d1e fo un da tions laid by the father of the nation , Maham1a Gandhi

Ghose coined the term 'Internet H.indu' ro describe d1ose who had attacked her online for her " pseudo-secularism" (cue outraged gasps). Man y have objected to the term ' Internet Hindu' as Hinduism pr eaches peace, while so-called 'Internet Hindus' are characterized by their aggressio n. And therein lies d1e biggest contradiction o f t he u ltranarion alisc movement.

He spo ke of h is v ision for a plmalis tic, harmonious society, and I can't imagin e t he current tide of ul tranationalism bein g condoned by the 'great soul', were he scill alive. J\for eover, t he consequences of an overly aggressive India could be catastrophic for the nati o n. Gujarat's repmarion is still recovering from d1e riots of 2002, and tl1e .loc al tourism mai:ket has felt the p inch Tourism is just one area char would be affected b y a paradigm shift in Indian soc iety. ln dia h as had from-row seats to the effects of exu-emi sm in Pakistan in the past decade, not to mention the implications if India was drawn into a war with its neighbour. Uber -patriots claim that the lndian mili tary could conquer any adversar y - the y fail to address w hat would be the cost to the natio n:~ credentials an d society. The stor ms chat breaks over

Storms brew over Chennai and over the government in Delhi.

Chennai every night brings with t hem cnmult and turbulence hut come morning, the clouds are gone. India, o n the ocher hand, can't sleep during d1e growing srorm over its future The idea tl1at India is a peaceful nation is problematic, given its lo n g hiscory of internal co n Aict. ( ever theless i t's an idea that must b e aspired to - d1e sta kes are too high for it co be otherwise.